(02-23-2023, 08:08 AM)The Real Marty Wrote: [ -> ]Y'all don't sprain your arms patting yourselves on the back.
A lot of this reads like, "This is how I came to be so great."
Interesting take. I actually take no pride nor enjoy my personal values and views regarding our political system. If anything. I acknowledge that I have a hard time trusting most of the candidates or actions from the Government historically and currently. I also acknowledged that due to my mistrust that I really don't know [BLEEP] at the end of the day.
Sounds really great, doesn't it? Moving forward into 2024. I am leaning towards Trump. Which is interesting because I did not vote for him in 2016 nor 2020. However, after nearly four years of this [BLEEP] show with Biden and his administration? I feel like I don't have much of a choice. I was leaning towards DeSantis but now with this whole George Soros praising him it makes me hesitate a little bit.
Some people will take that as a ringing endorsement. Some will take it as a sign to get the hell away from him. At any rate. The effect is taking place already as Trump and Lake publicly demonize him. Not sure what to feel about all of that. All I know is that, again, as stated. I am not a fan of us being involved too much geopolitically and I don't understand why we continue to punish our own economy or resources while selling them overseas.
OPEC told Biden to [BLEEP] off about producing more oil. While Biden sold off some of our reserves. Now he's in bed with [BLEEP] Venezuela to get more oil? How does any of this make any [BLEEP] sense to anybody? And what about the Nordstream pipeline being blown to hell and Biden's little vague comments about it.
We're [BLEEP] surrounded by wolves in sheep's clothing. I told people to be weary of this when they voted for Biden. He's a war mongering machine. He always has been. I wonder who has their hand up his [BLEEP] the most over there from Ukraine because it's obvious he has ties over there. Just tired of this nonsense. That's the one thing I can agree with Trump about. "America First". Peace needs to be promoted globally.
As long as I can remember I always wanted to be a gangster.
(02-23-2023, 10:35 AM)flsprtsgod Wrote: [ -> ]As long as I can remember I always wanted to be a gangster.
![[Image: ray-liotta.gif]](https://media.tenor.com/i05vG8C_pXsAAAAM/ray-liotta.gif)
So, basically a career politician?
(02-23-2023, 08:08 AM)The Real Marty Wrote: [ -> ]Y'all don't sprain your arms patting yourselves on the back.
A lot of this reads like, "This is how I came to be so great."
Seriously?
It sounds more like, "These are the people and experiences that made me who I am today."
If it rubs you the wrong way maybe you should ask yourself why.
(02-23-2023, 11:49 AM)americus 2.0 Wrote: [ -> ] (02-23-2023, 08:08 AM)The Real Marty Wrote: [ -> ]Y'all don't sprain your arms patting yourselves on the back.
A lot of this reads like, "This is how I came to be so great."
Seriously?
It sounds more like, "These are the people and experiences that made me who I am today."
If it rubs you the wrong way maybe you should ask yourself why.
I think Marty woke up as a grumpy old man today.
(02-23-2023, 11:16 AM)Caldrac Wrote: [ -> ] (02-23-2023, 10:35 AM)flsprtsgod Wrote: [ -> ]As long as I can remember I always wanted to be a gangster.
So, basically a career politician?
It's important to remember that the guy paying the politician is usually more powerful and wealthier than the politician he's paying.
(02-23-2023, 12:55 PM)flsprtsgod Wrote: [ -> ] (02-23-2023, 11:16 AM)Caldrac Wrote: [ -> ]
So, basically a career politician?
It's important to remember that the guy paying the politician is usually more powerful and wealthier than the politician he's paying.
People who actually have billions of dollars usually care what other billionaires think of them, but they usually don't care what the Hoi polloi think of them. They want to play the game of politics, but they don't want to have to face public criticism for it, so they pay others to do it for them. Depending on your interpretation, Trump is either the world's most unusual and self sacrificial billionaire, or, he's not actually that rich, and beholden to some richer and anonymous people above him.
Childhood indoctrination was 100% conservative-christian-bible-thumping-vengeful-god-will-smite-thee-for-thine-sins garbage.
I only came away impressed by the Jesus bits. He was cool. I dug his basic decency and unconditional compassion.
Selflessness.
The rest was all fear-laden tripe. No way to live, waiting on eternal damnation and a lightning bolt from the heavens to strike you down to the flames unless you beg forgiveness incessantly for being human.
Luckily my pops set a very christ-like example for me and my brother.
He talked the talk and walked the walk 99.9% of the time, which is more than I can say for most church folk I've known.
So, I was fortunate to grow up around a practical example of someone just being a good person. Even if I didn't believe everything he did.
I also grew up around lots of racism and had to make the conscious decision to not adopt or normalize it at a young age.
What a strange thing to go through as a kid. Having to reconcile that 70% of the adults in your life are seeing the world all [BLEEP] up. Pointless hate. It still baffles me. This was also one of the early clues that the church was full of [BLEEP]. Tons of outward racists there every Sunday.
Ultimately - for me - it just comes down to trying to find balance between being compassionate for others and doing whatever you can to help people, but knowing where to draw the line and look out for oneself.
I reckon where we choose to draw that line is one of the things that makes us attracted to different sorts of political policy. It's a wide spectrum.
Lots of conservatives these days seem to take on a "survival of the fittest" mentality and let the weak be damned.
I just tend to be more compassionate for folks who struggle through little or no fault of their own.
Hard for me to stomach folks who don't give a [BLEEP] about anyone but those in their own little microcosm of existence.
If I had to pick one thing that reaffirmed my own inclinations toward a progressive mindset, it would be travel.
Seeing the world gives you new perspective. You realize that many of the institutions and methodologies you grew up with are merely one way of doing things among a broad horizon of possibilities. And you also realize that the human spirit is the same every where - and it is coursing through the veins of good people, bad people, and all those in between on every continent. We are all the same in so many ways.
Anyway, I'm an opinionated prick and and I know that about myself.
I've come to accept it as long as I keep trying to do good things for friends, family, and strangers in my day to day however I can.
Anyhoo - there's your libtard drive-by for the month.
Cheers.
Marty, I broke the [BLEEP] out of my arm patting my elitist back on this one.
(02-23-2023, 12:55 PM)flsprtsgod Wrote: [ -> ] (02-23-2023, 11:16 AM)Caldrac Wrote: [ -> ]
So, basically a career politician?
It's important to remember that the guy paying the politician is usually more powerful and wealthier than the politician he's paying.
For sure. Everything is a rich man's trick. Unless you're chrisjagsboy. Then it's just Trevor Lawrence playing tricks.
(02-23-2023, 01:19 PM)NYC4jags Wrote: [ -> ]Childhood indoctrination was 100% conservative-christian-bible-thumping-vengeful-god-will-smite-thee-for-thine-sins garbage.
I only came away impressed by the Jesus bits. He was cool. I dug his basic decency and unconditional compassion.
Selflessness.
The rest was all fear-laden tripe. No way to live, waiting on eternal damnation and a lightning bolt from the heavens to strike you down to the flames unless you beg forgiveness incessantly for being human.
Luckily my pops set a very christ-like example for me and my brother.
He talked the talk and walked the walk 99.9% of the time, which is more than I can say for most church folk I've known.
So, I was fortunate to grow up around a practical example of someone just being a good person. Even if I didn't believe everything he did.
I also grew up around lots of racism and had to make the conscious decision to not adopt or normalize it at a young age.
What a strange thing to go through as a kid. Having to reconcile that 70% of the adults in your life are seeing the world all [BLEEP] up. Pointless hate. It still baffles me. This was also one of the early clues that the church was full of [BLEEP]. Tons of outward racists there every Sunday.
Ultimately - for me - it just comes down to trying to find balance between being compassionate for others and doing whatever you can to help people, but knowing where to draw the line and look out for oneself.
I reckon where we choose to draw that line is one of the things that makes us attracted to different sorts of political policy. It's a wide spectrum.
Lots of conservatives these days seem to take on a "survival of the fittest" mentality and let the weak be damned.
I just tend to be more compassionate for folks who struggle through little or no fault of their own.
Hard for me to stomach folks who don't give a [BLEEP] about anyone but those in their own little microcosm of existence.
If I had to pick one thing that reaffirmed my own inclinations toward a progressive mindset, it would be travel.
Seeing the world gives you new perspective. You realize that many of the institutions and methodologies you grew up with are merely one way of doing things among a broad horizon of possibilities. And you also realize that the human spirit is the same every where - and it is coursing through the veins of good people, bad people, and all those in between on every continent. We are all the same in so many ways.
Anyway, I'm an opinionated prick and and I know that about myself.
I've come to accept it as long as I keep trying to do good things for friends, family, and strangers in my day to day however I can.
Anyhoo - there's your libtard drive-by for the month.
Cheers.
Marty, I broke the [BLEEP] out of my arm patting my elitist back on this one.
That bolded part above resonated with me. I had the same challenges growing up. It was frustrating. The church part was hit or miss. Usually Mom turned to God after my Dad did her wrong. We didn't show up every Sunday though. My Dad couldn't stand it. He's an atheist. He hated the hypocrisy of it all and that's why he we would never claim to be a Saint.
The racism part still happens within my family and it's honestly the reason why I try to limit my family appearances with them to just birthday's and holiday's. I don't want my son picking up racist slurs or nonsense because somebody had a bad experience at the grocery store or at a traffic light.
They lump a few bad apples, a minority, into an entire minority race. Or, they'll blame it on a specific religion, instead of looking at the specific facts or details within a direct sect of said religion. Not all Christians, Catholics, Jews and Muslims are bad.
Do we have outliers from these religious groups? Sure. It's not the Christian to be feared. It's the extremist Christian that's to be feared. It's not the Jewish people to be feared. It's the Zionist Jewish Elite to be feared, it's not the Muslim. It's the Wahabisim Muslim. And even in those sects? Not ALL of them are evil or corrupting Governments behind the scenes.
I never understood the logic behind that. Just blaming it on an entire group of people. It's too easy in practice but it's also very, very lazy and dangerous in the long run.
(02-23-2023, 03:54 PM)Caldrac Wrote: [ -> ] (02-23-2023, 01:19 PM)NYC4jags Wrote: [ -> ]Childhood indoctrination was 100% conservative-christian-bible-thumping-vengeful-god-will-smite-thee-for-thine-sins garbage.
I only came away impressed by the Jesus bits. He was cool. I dug his basic decency and unconditional compassion.
Selflessness.
The rest was all fear-laden tripe. No way to live, waiting on eternal damnation and a lightning bolt from the heavens to strike you down to the flames unless you beg forgiveness incessantly for being human.
Luckily my pops set a very christ-like example for me and my brother.
He talked the talk and walked the walk 99.9% of the time, which is more than I can say for most church folk I've known.
So, I was fortunate to grow up around a practical example of someone just being a good person. Even if I didn't believe everything he did.
I also grew up around lots of racism and had to make the conscious decision to not adopt or normalize it at a young age.
What a strange thing to go through as a kid. Having to reconcile that 70% of the adults in your life are seeing the world all [BLEEP] up. Pointless hate. It still baffles me. This was also one of the early clues that the church was full of [BLEEP]. Tons of outward racists there every Sunday.
Ultimately - for me - it just comes down to trying to find balance between being compassionate for others and doing whatever you can to help people, but knowing where to draw the line and look out for oneself.
I reckon where we choose to draw that line is one of the things that makes us attracted to different sorts of political policy. It's a wide spectrum.
Lots of conservatives these days seem to take on a "survival of the fittest" mentality and let the weak be damned.
I just tend to be more compassionate for folks who struggle through little or no fault of their own.
Hard for me to stomach folks who don't give a [BLEEP] about anyone but those in their own little microcosm of existence.
If I had to pick one thing that reaffirmed my own inclinations toward a progressive mindset, it would be travel.
Seeing the world gives you new perspective. You realize that many of the institutions and methodologies you grew up with are merely one way of doing things among a broad horizon of possibilities. And you also realize that the human spirit is the same every where - and it is coursing through the veins of good people, bad people, and all those in between on every continent. We are all the same in so many ways.
Anyway, I'm an opinionated prick and and I know that about myself.
I've come to accept it as long as I keep trying to do good things for friends, family, and strangers in my day to day however I can.
Anyhoo - there's your libtard drive-by for the month.
Cheers.
Marty, I broke the [BLEEP] out of my arm patting my elitist back on this one.
That bolded part above resonated with me. I had the same challenges growing up. It was frustrating. The church part was hit or miss. Usually Mom turned to God after my Dad did her wrong. We didn't show up every Sunday though. My Dad couldn't stand it. He's an atheist. He hated the hypocrisy of it all and that's why he we would never claim to be a Saint.
The racism part still happens within my family and it's honestly the reason why I try to limit my family appearances with them to just birthday's and holiday's. I don't want my son picking up racist slurs or nonsense because somebody had a bad experience at the grocery store or at a traffic light.
They lump a few bad apples, a minority, into an entire minority race. Or, they'll blame it on a specific religion, instead of looking at the specific facts or details within a direct sect of said religion. Not all Christians, Catholics, Jews and Muslims are bad.
Do we have outliers from these religious groups? Sure. It's not the Christian to be feared. It's the extremist Christian that's to be feared. It's not the Jewish people to be feared. It's the Zionist Jewish Elite to be feared, it's not the Muslim. It's the Wahabisim Muslim. And even in those sects? Not ALL of them are evil or corrupting Governments behind the scenes.
I never understood the logic behind that. Just blaming it on an entire group of people. It's too easy in practice but it's also very, very lazy and dangerous in the long run.
Regarding the bolded in your post - I agree - and by the way I didn't mean to vilify Christianity in my post. I was just sharing what role it played in my personal experience.
I'm realizing now that I painted it in an ugly light and that's not really my intention. Just because I didn't choose to adopt my parents beliefs doesn't make others bad or wrong for doing so. I may be a jerk in many ways, but I don't judge people over those things. Unless, as you laid out, they are off on some destructive extremist angle.
Wanted to clarify that.
(02-23-2023, 03:54 PM)Caldrac Wrote: [ -> ] (02-23-2023, 01:19 PM)NYC4jags Wrote: [ -> ]Childhood indoctrination was 100% conservative-christian-bible-thumping-vengeful-god-will-smite-thee-for-thine-sins garbage.
I only came away impressed by the Jesus bits. He was cool. I dug his basic decency and unconditional compassion.
Selflessness.
The rest was all fear-laden tripe. No way to live, waiting on eternal damnation and a lightning bolt from the heavens to strike you down to the flames unless you beg forgiveness incessantly for being human.
Luckily my pops set a very christ-like example for me and my brother.
He talked the talk and walked the walk 99.9% of the time, which is more than I can say for most church folk I've known.
So, I was fortunate to grow up around a practical example of someone just being a good person. Even if I didn't believe everything he did.
I also grew up around lots of racism and had to make the conscious decision to not adopt or normalize it at a young age.
What a strange thing to go through as a kid. Having to reconcile that 70% of the adults in your life are seeing the world all [BLEEP] up. Pointless hate. It still baffles me. This was also one of the early clues that the church was full of [BLEEP]. Tons of outward racists there every Sunday.
Ultimately - for me - it just comes down to trying to find balance between being compassionate for others and doing whatever you can to help people, but knowing where to draw the line and look out for oneself.
I reckon where we choose to draw that line is one of the things that makes us attracted to different sorts of political policy. It's a wide spectrum.
Lots of conservatives these days seem to take on a "survival of the fittest" mentality and let the weak be damned.
I just tend to be more compassionate for folks who struggle through little or no fault of their own.
Hard for me to stomach folks who don't give a [BLEEP] about anyone but those in their own little microcosm of existence.
If I had to pick one thing that reaffirmed my own inclinations toward a progressive mindset, it would be travel.
Seeing the world gives you new perspective. You realize that many of the institutions and methodologies you grew up with are merely one way of doing things among a broad horizon of possibilities. And you also realize that the human spirit is the same every where - and it is coursing through the veins of good people, bad people, and all those in between on every continent. We are all the same in so many ways.
Anyway, I'm an opinionated prick and and I know that about myself.
I've come to accept it as long as I keep trying to do good things for friends, family, and strangers in my day to day however I can.
Anyhoo - there's your libtard drive-by for the month.
Cheers.
Marty, I broke the [BLEEP] out of my arm patting my elitist back on this one.
That bolded part above resonated with me. I had the same challenges growing up. It was frustrating. The church part was hit or miss. Usually Mom turned to God after my Dad did her wrong. We didn't show up every Sunday though. My Dad couldn't stand it. He's an atheist. He hated the hypocrisy of it all and that's why he we would never claim to be a Saint.
The racism part still happens within my family and it's honestly the reason why I try to limit my family appearances with them to just birthday's and holiday's. I don't want my son picking up racist slurs or nonsense because somebody had a bad experience at the grocery store or at a traffic light.
They lump a few bad apples, a minority, into an entire minority race. Or, they'll blame it on a specific religion, instead of looking at the specific facts or details within a direct sect of said religion. Not all Christians, Catholics, Jews and Muslims are bad.
Do we have outliers from these religious groups? Sure. It's not the Christian to be feared. It's the extremist Christian that's to be feared. It's not the Jewish people to be feared. It's the Zionist Jewish Elite to be feared, it's not the Muslim. It's the Wahabisim Muslim. And even in those sects? Not ALL of them are evil or corrupting Governments behind the scenes.
I never understood the logic behind that. Just blaming it on an entire group of people. It's too easy in practice but it's also very, very lazy and dangerous in the long run.
I had racist friends growing up. They're a lot easier to remove from your life than racist family. But they're still around, in other people's lives. There're still out there making minorities feel unwelcome and unappreciated. Given your personal experience with it, I'm surprised you didn't stuck up for my point earlier, in the thread about a Virginia school board member.
I should also say, my parents deliberately kept me away from church, but I became interested in Christianity in high school and ended up converting in college. I've been in church for almost every Sunday the last 20 years. Some of the folks you meet there are truly messed up, that's for sure. But that's why they are there. That's why I'm there. If half the claims of Christianity are true, all of us are very messed up indeed.
But I've also met some genuinely good folks.
And occasionally you meet someone who wants to stir things up and direct the church into some sort of political direction. Most churches don't talk politics. Fortunately I haven't seen a person like this succeed in the churches I've been in, I've seen them fail, get frustrated, and leave.
(02-23-2023, 01:19 PM)NYC4jags Wrote: [ -> ]Childhood indoctrination was 100% conservative-christian-bible-thumping-vengeful-god-will-smite-thee-for-thine-sins garbage.
I only came away impressed by the Jesus bits. He was cool. I dug his basic decency and unconditional compassion.
Selflessness.
The rest was all fear-laden tripe. No way to live, waiting on eternal damnation and a lightning bolt from the heavens to strike you down to the flames unless you beg forgiveness incessantly for being human.
Luckily my pops set a very christ-like example for me and my brother.
He talked the talk and walked the walk 99.9% of the time, which is more than I can say for most church folk I've known.
So, I was fortunate to grow up around a practical example of someone just being a good person. Even if I didn't believe everything he did.
I also grew up around lots of racism and had to make the conscious decision to not adopt or normalize it at a young age.
What a strange thing to go through as a kid. Having to reconcile that 70% of the adults in your life are seeing the world all [BLEEP] up. Pointless hate. It still baffles me. This was also one of the early clues that the church was full of [BLEEP]. Tons of outward racists there every Sunday.
Ultimately - for me - it just comes down to trying to find balance between being compassionate for others and doing whatever you can to help people, but knowing where to draw the line and look out for oneself.
I reckon where we choose to draw that line is one of the things that makes us attracted to different sorts of political policy. It's a wide spectrum.
Lots of conservatives these days seem to take on a "survival of the fittest" mentality and let the weak be damned.
I just tend to be more compassionate for folks who struggle through little or no fault of their own.
Hard for me to stomach folks who don't give a [BLEEP] about anyone but those in their own little microcosm of existence.
If I had to pick one thing that reaffirmed my own inclinations toward a progressive mindset, it would be travel.
Seeing the world gives you new perspective. You realize that many of the institutions and methodologies you grew up with are merely one way of doing things among a broad horizon of possibilities. And you also realize that the human spirit is the same every where - and it is coursing through the veins of good people, bad people, and all those in between on every continent. We are all the same in so many ways.
Anyway, I'm an opinionated prick and and I know that about myself.
I've come to accept it as long as I keep trying to do good things for friends, family, and strangers in my day to day however I can.
Anyhoo - there's your libtard drive-by for the month.
Cheers.
Marty, I broke the [BLEEP] out of my arm patting my elitist back on this one.
Like many previous comments on this topic, your "take" on this was interesting and enlightening. You were very fortunate to have a parent who set such a positive example. While my dad was far from perfect (who is?), I believe he was a great role model in the ways which count the most. He always went out of his way to help others and also possessed the compassion you spoke of. I'd like to believe that these positive traits "rubbed off" on me. One area in which we are not alike is in our political beliefs. My dad loved Rush Limbaugh and often spoke of his extreme dislike (bordering on hatred) of Democrats. While I consider myself a moderate, I tend to be more like my mother (left of center) when it comes to "social" issues.
The vast majority of people on this site clearly lean to the right. I rarely take offense for things they say unless it is personal and meant to offend others. A small minority of people fit this category.
I am of the belief that while I differ politically from them, the vast majority are good people who try to make a positive difference in this world.
There is no doubt that our beliefs and values have come mostly from our parents. We typically either share these same beliefs or go in the entirely opposite direction. I realize that I was extremely fortunate to grow up in a middle class family with parents who taught me to respect others despite whatever differences (race, religion, socioeconomic status, etc.) that we had. I have no doubt that the primary reason for racism, anti-semitism or any other hatreds stem from a feeling of inadequacy and the need to feel "better" than others. Life certainly can be "easier" for those who see everything in black and white and this "laziness" also contributes to prejudice.
I am grateful for "Duval Pride" as it gives me an opportunity to share my thoughts on the Jaguars to other diehard fans. There is no doubt that "misery loves company" and those on this forum understand this better than most. This is also my favorite place to learn more about my favorite team, especially when compared to local media.
(02-22-2023, 08:10 PM)HURRICANE!!! Wrote: [ -> ] (02-17-2023, 08:47 PM)Butters Wrote: [ -> ]My Grandpa was the smartest man I knew;how he lived his life is how I try to live mine.
Dude, your Username is Butters and you have a SouthPark pic of Butters as your avatar. Who the [BLEEP] was your Grandpa, Eric Cartman? 
Tbh, he would find most of South Park pretty funny friend
(02-23-2023, 08:20 PM)HURRICANE!!! Wrote: [ -> ] (02-22-2023, 11:32 PM)mikesez Wrote: [ -> ]A lot of good posts here.
Appreciate the positive feedback.
(02-23-2023, 10:35 AM)flsprtsgod Wrote: [ -> ]As long as I can remember I always wanted to be a gangster.
Jimmy Two Times ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfW-MPUjC_0
Interesting factoid about that scene, when he names all the guys in the bar, he includes "Mikey Francese," but Michael Francese was not in that family. He was in the Columbo family. The guys in the bar- Henry Hill, Jimmy Burke, etc- were in the Lucchese family.